NO RESPECT FOR TAMIL IDP's LIVES,LIVELIHOOD,SAFETY,PROPERTY,HR,FREEDOM,FEELINGS!! NEVER LISTEN TO IC/UN!! SO NO LOAN FROM IMF!!! ECONOMIC RUIN SOON!!

SRI LANKA IMF WAR-ROW SHOWS GEOPOLITICS

LONDON, May 15 (Reuters) -

Sri Lanka's apparent difficulty securing a $1.9 billion IMF loan with its conduct in its civil war becoming a key sticking point, is a rare glimpse into how geopolitical importance can influence multilateral aid.

While fellow troubled emerging economies Ukraine and Pakistan have also had their disputes with the International Monetary Fund, many investors feel they are simply too geopolitically crucial to be allowed to default.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan, which is battling Taliban militants and a linchpin of U.S. strategy in neighbouring Afghanistan, was granted a $7.6 billion IMF loan in November, averting a balance of payments crisis.

Ukraine's $16.4-billion deal has at times been delayed due to disputes over budget deficit and reforms, but most analysts expect Kiev to be kept afloat by the West through the IMF given its position bordering Russia and straddling key energy routes.

While Sri Lanka is not devoid of geopolitical importance, overlooking key sea lanes around the foot of the Indian subcontinent, analysts are unconvinced that is enough.

“If you look at the situation with Pakistan and Ukraine, geopolitics certainly played a role in getting an IMF loan,” said Lars Christensen, head of emerging market research at Danske Bank.

“You can see Sri Lanka is an entirely different case – it is much less important. What is also different is that unusually this is being done more in public.” Sri Lanka's military has forced Tamil Tiger rebels back to a narrow strip of coastal land, trapping some 50,000 civilians.

The United States and the United Nations have accused the government of indiscriminate shelling and the Tigers of shooting those who try to leave; effectively making them human shields.

Rights groups have accused both sides of a string of abuses.

Listed as terrorists by the European Union, India and America, the Tigers have suffered a global crackdown on their funding. But the government, which issued a Eurobond in 2007, has effectively been shut out of international capital markets by the credit crunch.

Groups such as Human Rights Watch have called for humanitarian conditions to be attached to any IMF loan.

Ethnic Tamil protesters have taken to the streets in many Western capitals, demanding their governments act against Sri Lanka.

U.S. and British officials have called for the loan to be withheld or delayed as Sri Lanka's government repeatedly ignores international calls for a humanitarian ceasefire.

The central bank says there is no delay and the process is moving smoothly, but when it announced it was seeking a loan, it said the first disbursement could come by the end of April.

IMF chief Dominique Strauss Khan said on Friday he expected resolution within a few weeks. The U.N. Security Council, which includes China and Russia, vehemently opposed to outside interference in internal conflicts, has said using the loan to punish Sri Lanka was unnecessary.

But with the United States the fund's major shareholder, if Washington chooses to block the loan, it almost certainly can.

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